Upcoming in Gray Wolves Basketball: Lourdes opens the home portion of its 2015-2016 season on Saturday evening as the Gray Wolves host Cornerstone, the top-ranked team in NAIA Division II.  The contest also serves as the first Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference game for both schools.

Head Coach Andre Smith: In his sixth season both on the Lourdes bench and overall as a men's collegiate head coach, Andre Smith has a 87-73 (.544) record.  He is the only head coach in Lourdes program's history.  Smith was the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2012-2013.

Series Notes: Cornerstone holds a 9-1 all-time advantage against Lourdes dating back to Dec. 10, 2011.  Last year the Golden Eagles defeated the Gray Wolves three times.  Cornerstone was a 75-67 victory in Grand Rapids, a 67-55 winner at Tam-o-Shanter and defeated Lourdes 78-63 in the WHAC tournament.  The only Lourdes victory in the series came in Grand Rapids on Feb. 22, 2012, a 67-58 triumph.  Cornerstone is 3-0 all-time in the series at Tam-o-Shanter.

Wrapping Up Last Week: Lourdes trailed by as many as eight points in the first half and overcame a three-point halftime deficit to defeat Akron Wayne 88-62 on Saturday afternoon in Orrville, Ohio.  E.J. Blackwell led Lourdes with 23 points while Anthony Swanigan added 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.  Hamish Abbott chipped in 16 points on 7-of-8 from the floor while Darrionate Steward tallied 12 points for the Gray Wolves.

Scouting Cornerstone: The Golden Eagles have won three straight games after a season-opening setback to #2 Indiana Wesleyan.  Cornerstone is coming off of a  93-72 win over Huntington on Saturday afternoon.  Ben Lanning leads Cornerstone averaging 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while Kyle Steigenga adds 18.5 points and a team-high 8.3 boards per contest.  Steigenga is shooting 61.4% from the floor.  Travis Wells adds 12.8 points per night while Cory Cox is scoring 12.5 points per game.

Lourdes in Home Openers: Lourdes is 5-0 all-time in home openers at Tam-o-Shanter after defeating Kuyper 92-51 to open last season's home slate.  The Gray Wolves have also defeated Madonna (2010), Siena Heights (2011), Kuyper (2012), and Lawrence Tech (2013) to begin home seasons.

WHAC Openers: Lourdes is 3-1 in conference openers since joining the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference prior to the 2011-2012 season.  The Gray Wolves lost to Aquinas in 2011 to begin league play but have rebounded with two wins against Lawrence Tech in 2012 and 2013 and a victory over Michigan-Dearborn last year to open the conference slate.

Looking for Best Start Ever: Lourdes is off to its first 3-0 start in program history.  While the Gray Wolves have never won more than two straight to start a season prior to this year,  Lourdes has had solid starts to seasons going 5-1, 6-1, and 4-1 to open each the last three campaigns.

Surpassing 1,000: Zach Steinmetz became the first 1,000-point scorer in program history last Saturday, surpassing the plateau in the second half against Akron Wayne.  In just two-plus years, Steinmetz has tallied 1,002 points for the Gray Wolves.  He tallied over half of his total in 2014-2015, scoring 540 points last year alone.

Facing Ranked Opponents: Lourdes has played 33 games against teams ranked in the NAIA Top-25 through the program's first five seasons.  The Gray Wolves are 8-25 in such games, and posted just a 1-6 mark against ranked foes one year ago.  Lourdes lone victory came against fourth-ranked Davenport, 53-32 at home, the highest ranked team the Gray Wolves have ever beaten.

Taking on #1: Lourdes will be hosting the top-ranked team in the country when Cornerstone visits Tam-o-Shanter.  It will mark the first time the nation's top squad has ever played at Lourdes.  The Gray Wolves have played just one top-ranked opponent all-time, suffering a 74-62 loss to Saint Francis (Ind.) in Adrian, Mich. at the Maple City Classic on Nov. 12, 2010.  The game against the Cougars was just the fifth in program history.

Bench Production: Lourdes tallied 36 points from its bench on Saturday, helping the Gray Wolves rally from a halftime deficit to defeat Akron Wayne.  Hamish Abbott made 7-of-8 shots from the floor on the way to 16 points while Darrionate Stewart was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and tallied 12 points.  The Gray Wolves' reserves had scored just 12 points total in the two previous games to open the year.

Making Things Difficult: After a wire-to-wire victory in the season opener at Saint Xavier, Lourdes has had to rally in each of the last two games.  Twice Lourdes has trailed at the intermission (32-21 vs. Silver Lake and 36-33 vs. Akron Wayne) before scoring 42 and 55 points in the second half of the two games to earn the victory.

Lourdes Tabbed Fourth in Preseason Poll: The Gray Wolves were selected to finish in fourth place in the WHAC this season in the preseason poll conducted of the league's head coaches.  Lourdes was picked just ahead of Aquinas, and just behind Northwestern Ohio.  Cornerstone was tabbed as the conference's preseason favorite after winning the 2014-2015 NAIA Division II national championship.  Davenport, a national semifinalist a year ago, was tabbed second.

This and That: Virgil Walker made his collegiate debut versus Akron Wayne ... E.J. Blackwell and Julian Johnson both have handed out 11 assists while committing just four turnovers ... Zach Steinmetz is averaging a double-double with 15.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game ... Anthony Swanigan is shooting 64.3% from the floor.